Quoth the Raven....

Eric's Apartment, New Gotham City, Saturday Afternoon

After storming out on Dinah and Momoko the night before, Raven had retreated to the netherverse, but she found little solace there from the chaos of her emotions. It wasn't like it had been with her father trying to influence her. That she had known was wrong, and she'd fought it as hard as she could. This was more subtle and insidious, as Eric preyed on her own desire for affection and acceptance.

She knew Dinah and Momoko would never hurt her. But neither would Eric. He couldn't be fooling her empathy, could he? Desperate for answers -- and comfort -- she went directly to Eric's apartment once she emerged from the netherverse.

[For those who know who they are. Warning: extremely dubious consent issues. Also imminent but well-deserved violence.]

"I just understand this," Eric said, turning around and grabbing hold of her hands. "Either you start trustin' me, or you and I are done." He knew exactly what he was saying and what affect it would have on her, but he hid his smirk.

Raven's face fell, and tears welled in her eyes. Being abandoned again...she couldn't take that. And between the pain in her heart and Eric's powers muddling her brain, she couldn't stop herself from nodding and saying, "I trust you."

Eric grinned. "'Bout freakin' time," he said, pulling Raven against him. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her toward the bedroom. "Been dreamin' about this, babe. Last thing every night, first thing every morning. No more kid stuff."

He set her down on the bed, removed his shirt, then leaned over her to kiss her.

Raven closed her eyes and tried to relax. But a split second later, her eyes snapped open as she felt something that Eric couldn't cloud her mind to, the feel of an assault on her soul. "No!" she gasped, and her Soul-Self emerged of its own accord, lifting Eric off of her and flinging him from the bed.

"I saw something horrible in my mind," Raven said, confused and uncertain even as her Soul-Self remained hovering around her. "It came from you! It made my Soul-Self act by itself! Eric, I do not undertand what I saw. You were...." She stopped staring at him. "What in Azar's name is happening? Eric...your eyes."

A lamp soared across the room to block Blossom's yo-yo. Eric clenched his fist, and more electronics from all about the apartment began to glow green and rise into the air. The TV, stereo, lamps, even the blender and toaster came flying in from the kitchen. "I need your soul, kid," he said, not taking his eyes off Blossom and Dinah. "Need it or else I'm gonna go all the way into machine. And I can't do that, babe."

Blossom took to the air, dodging and sending a few lightly charged hairbows after the appliances heading towards her. The explosions were minor, and some spinning of her yo-yo sent the pieces flying away before she sent it after Eric again. This time she aimed for his head, hoping to knock him out.

"Eric, stop!" Raven said, backing into a corner to avoid the flying debris. Eric was between her and Dinah and Momoko, and she didn't want to risk teleporting into a random piece of electronics. "I will not allow you to harm me or my friends."

Eric grunted as Blossom's yo-yo smacked him in the face, then wiped the blood away and laughed. "Your friends are trying to save you, but they can't," he said. "I'm part computer, and I control machines. I can control anything electronic. I'll kill them both. Then there's nothing between me and your soul."

"You're severely delusional. We're not Amy. There's three of us. You got the drop on her -- I hope she left some scars -- but we know what you are."

Dinah grabbed one of the floor lamps he'd thrown and threw it at him, putting an extra little spin on it, trying frantically to think of how to disable him. Maybe they could wear him down- maybe if he needed Raven's soul he was getting weaker? There was always the Canary Cry, but that might bring the building down on top of them. Damnit.

Eric threw up his arm to ward off the lamp Dinah threw, but hissed in pain when it impacted. At the same time he called the microwave from the kitchen and tried to put that in Blossom's path. At the same time, he tried to snack some electrical cords around Dinah.

"Don't listen to them, babe," Eric said. He had to keep his focus on Blossom and Dinah now, which kept him from sending the little electric bursts at her brain to confuse her thoughts. "You know I love you. I need you. And you're gonna give me what I want, aren't you?"

"Amy had freezing powers--" WHOMP. Damnit, those cords were tricky. Dinah swore and squirmed, kicking at the cords, then yanking on them with both hands to get free. "Eric, you creeper, give it up! People know!" She stopped herself from stating the cliche' You're not going to get away with this and then threw a wild blast of unaimed TK at his feet, hoping to trip him, bring him down.

Blossom smashed through the microwave, but it definitely lessened her speed and her punch was a bit weaker for it. She did manage to connect though and pulled back and flew up and away as soon as she did.

Even as her Soul-Self wrapped around Eric, he made one more desperate plea. "Hon, I love you. Don't listen to those lies, you know me. You know my emotions. I'm tellin' the truth. Stop them. Save me, Raven. Save me!"

Raven watched impassively, unmoved by his pleas. She heard joyous cries as golden lights rose out of her Soul-Self and soared upward. Different voices, all female, came from them.

You knew! Your soul knew! Your soul resisted him, resisted as we could not. He is more machine than man.

Your Soul-Self burns him...it frees us. And without a human soul, he can no longer be human. He has failed. And we are free!

Eric's humanity was destroyed when he interfaced with his computers. He was losing his humanness even as he was becoming a machine. He knew to regain his own lost humanity, he needed to feed on pure souls. He found women...took their souls in love-making and in the process destroyed them.

Then he met you, Raven. He sensed the power of your Soul-Self, the well of so many Azarathean lives. He knew by stealing your soul, utterly destroying you, he could once more become human.

The lights vanished as the souls of Eric's victims all escaped. Raven sank down to her knees, recalling her Soul-Self. It left behind what remained of Eric, more metal than flesh now, twitching on the carpet, sparks flying from his body. "Save me, Raven. Save me," he repeated, over and over before falling completely still.

Blossom recovered faster than she expected she would, after witnessing that. She moved to what was left of Eric and quickly gagged him. "No. You don't get to do that. You've hurt her enough; she doesn't need that to be the last memory she has of you."

She turned back to Raven. "He was beyond saving before he ever heard your name. You know that, right?"

"Or not. This case is going to be one for the 'unsolved' files." Dinah didn't look down at Eric, but stepped lightly over the scattered electronic chaos, watching Raven's face, hurting for her. Not knowing what to say.

"I'm glad you're ..." Not okay, no. But alive. "In one piece." She looped an arm through Raven's. "Let's get out of here."

Raven was...numb, mostly. Her head was clear and her mind her own, but she was angry that she'd been so easily deceived and sickened by what had almost happened.

"I am myself again," she said. "And those he has harmed are free to pass on as they will. I cannot restore their lives, but at least they are no longer ensnared."

She could hear the sirens in the distance, getting closer. A neighbor must've called the police at the commotion from the apartment. She called up her Soul-Self again, using it to teleport Dinah, Blossom, and herself to the safety of the Clocktower.